Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Five Guys Burgers And Fries Hawaii Review

Standard

Fresh, handcrafted burgers is a popular trend among burger joints across the country and Hawaii is no exception.

The franchise chain Five Guys Burgers And Fries made their way to Hawaii in June of 2016 to offer their take on handcrafted burgers that we love so much. But, how does it stack up (pun intended)? Being around since 1986 you would think that they have mastered their craft…

There was a lot of hype when 5 Guys Burger And Fries opened up their first Hawaii location in the Mililani shopping center. The hype led to long lines and I swear there wasn’t a moment that I scrolled through Facebook without seeing a post about someone eating there. So, of course, we had to try it out. We waited a few months after launch to give it time for the hype to die down and to let them work out the kinks in their service if any.

Well, I give them a 1-star out of 5. And here are the reasons why.

First off, the prices of the burgers to how it tasted wasn’t up to par. My thing is value. I look at what value I am getting compared to what I can get at other places. Their burger wasn’t great at all. It may be due to the fact that we got ours to go and it sat for a little bit and deteriorated the quality of the burger. That could be part of it, but getting it to go or eating in wasn’t really a choice – they were packed.

You order everything a la cart. You choose your burger, add on any sides, and they begin constructing your burger. What didn’t make sense to me was the amount of staff that they had working. I swear, maybe it’s called 5 guys because it literally takes 5 guys to make one darn burger. It looked as if one person was designated one task – a fry person, a lettuce person, a sauce person, etc. The majority of their staff was standing around. The production seemed to be bottlenecked by the people who were cooking the patties on the griddle. It didn’t make sense because it still took about 15-20 minutes to receive our order.

We ordered 2 burgers, 1 fries, and 1 shake which came out to be a little over $40. Perhaps the high cost is not due to the premium fresh ingredients that they use (it didn’t taste like it), but to cover their labor cost. That’s probably why their menu is on the pricey side.

Back to value. For the amount that we spent, we could have gone to a nice sit-down restaurant, have a fine meal and/or superior burger for the same price. Ruscello’s burger, located in Nordstrom Ala Moana, pops into mind as well as Monkey Pod Kitchen’s lunch burgers.

Regardless if 5 Guy’s burger quality was deteriorated because we took it out to go and it sat for a little while, the question I ask myself is, “would I go back and give them another chance?” I think my answer is likely not.

Although, don’t take my word for it. Try it out and let me know what you think.